Finding themselves hiding from the end of the world in a hole

Sarah

Tera arrived shortly after that, full of questions. Sarah did her best to answer them, and they set to work examining what they had. OmniCorp had provided them with a great deal of genetic material from the previous tests, though none of it had yet been sequenced. That was easily solved by the sequencing machines that OmniCrop had helpfully provided.

"Sarah, this is incredible. How many weeks would it have taken us to sequence one of these genomes upstairs?" Tera asked as they looked through the results on the holoscreen. "And these holoscreens?"

"I know, this is all incredible stuff."

Sarah watched her neural net scan the three samples for patterns. Even with all of this technology some things still took time.

"I'm going for some coffee," she announced, "Do you want to come?"

"No, I'm still working on comparing these mutations to other documented mutations. But could you bring me something?"

"Sure," Sarah smiled. 'Only Tera would ask' me 'to bring' her 'coffee.'

Dr. Young and ad Dr. Meng were already in the break room when Sarah arrived, discussing something excitedly. Donna, Dr. Young, was a motherly woman in her early fifties. She was smart and had written a lot of important papers, but the thing Sarah respected most about her was how hard she worked with her junior researchers and lab assistants to help them progress in their own careers, even when it hurt her own. Sarah had always tried to copy her.

"Yes, outside Ontario. They've captured a live Alpha and two Betas. Samples are on their way already, they're trying to prepare the individuals for transport."

"What happened?" Sarah asked, curiously.

"Ah, Dr. Berns. We've speculated that the Infected have an animal like hierarchy, with Alphas at the top, then Betas, and then Gammas at the bottom. Our theory is that the higher up in the ranks the infected is, the more intelligent they are. Some of OmniCorp's special forces have captured an Alpha and two Betas outside Ontario," Dr. Young said excitedly.

Sarah frowned, "What exactly makes this Alpha different from the others?"

"Well, apart from being able to think for themselves and suppress their urges? We've seen that they have a demonstrable ability to control Betas and Gammas, as well as turn uninfected people into Betas. And Betas are able to suppress their urges and think straight, but they don't seem to have full control of themselves. Some reports say Betas can make other Betas."

"There have been reports of Alphas emerging on their own, maybe some people are predisposition to become Alphas?" Dr. Meng interjected.

"Yes, yes, there's some anecdotal evidence for that, as you're fond of pointing out. We've also yet to find a female Alpha, but I'm very suspicious of the idea that there are no female Alphas."

"They're not just a mindless rabble?"

"Hmmm," Dr. Young scrunched up her brows, "No, the vast majority seem to be Gammas, which are just a mindless horde seeking sex. Sex zombies," she chuckled nervously. "Whoever cooked up this stuff really was playing with fire. Why OmniCorp would have kept any samples at all is a mystery to me. This stuff is just too dangerous. Hopefully, once this outbreak is under control they do go ahead and destroy it all. Oh," She said suddenly, "Dr. Berns, your old mentor, Dr. Lyons just arrived. I'm sure she'd be excited to see you."

Sarah stopped, it had been years since she'd seen her mentor. They had a… complicated relationship. Dr. Lyons… Ashley, was her first—well, second—lesbian experience. They had been lovers for the last year of her doctoral studies. That had ended when Sarah had taken her position at the OBFL. 'Might as well get the awkwardness out of the way as soon as possible.' "Thanks, I'll go see her."

'Ashley was working on human brain bridges to technology, beyond the simple probes that we use now. So why is she here now? Sure she's brilliant, but does bio-mechanical bridging have to do with two-zero-nine-dash-quebec?'

The door hissed open, and Sarah and Ashley stood face to face again. Sarah's stomach twisted under the overwhelming rush of conflicting emotions.

The last two years had put some wear on the Doctor. Sure she still had that lithe body and French charm, but there were crow's feet around her eyes, and her skin was beginning to show her descent into middle age, even if her small, perky breasts were still resisting.

"Hello Ashley," Sarah smiled, "It's been a while."

"Ah, Sarah. I was hoping you'd be here." Her accent was still there, beautiful and strikingly French. "I've missed you… I'm sorry, that wasn't appropriate."

'At least her habit of apologizing after she says something inappropriate hasn't changed,' Sarah laughed to herself. "I've missed you too." She was surprised by the admission. It was true, but until she said it she would never have admitted it.

"I really don't mean to be rude, but I have quite a lot to get set up," Ashley smiled apologetically, "Would you mind joining me for dinner tonight? I know that it won't be very private…"

"No, that's fine," Sarah assured, "I'm actually supposed to be taking coffee back to my assistant," she waved on her way out. 'Could have been worse,' she admitted. Despite herself she felt a pang of longing. 'Damn it. Why did she have to come here now? Just when I thought I was getting over her.'

The corridors were all rather nondescript, and Sarah kept getting lost and having to backtrack. She made it finally back to the cafeteria and collected coffee–and 5 sugar packets for Tera–but not without taking a few wrong turns. The way back to the lab was, fortunately, rather simple from the cafeteria, and she didn't get lost.

"Sarah," Tera gushed the second she walked through the door, "we just got a bunch of new samples, these are from actual infected people out there, not from the old experiments. I've been sequencing all of them. Dr. Young said you'd know what the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma designations mean."

"Yeah," Sarah filled her in.

"They're evolving that quickly?" Tera wondered aloud.

Sarah stopped, "Maybe. But we don't know. The initial set of infected could be the Alphas, or there could be a genetic component. See if you can get pre-infection genetic material for any of the samples we have. Let's see if we can find any common genes, and then we'll try to isolate those. I have a few other things I want to look at as well. That's an interesting theory though, if they are evolving that rapidly it would put the gradualism vs punctuated equilibrium argument to rest."

Joslynn swished through the door with the distinctive click, click of heels on the metal floors a few hours later.

Sarah at the clock, 'Five hours already,' she thought. She turned to Joslynn, 'She doesn't look like she's had a break all day either.'

Joslynn put on a tired smile and asked, "Are you two doing okay?"

"Of course," Sarah smiled back. "Please don't wear yourself ragged on our account. Have a seat."

"Thanks," Joslynn sat on the edge of the desk. "Have you seen your room yet?

"I take it we're not allowed to leave?"

"Unfortunately no," Joslynn looked as perturbed as Sarah felt. "The Director is concerned that something might happen to one of us."

'Or we might go to the media or government,' Sarah thought. "What about clothes?"

"I picked out clothes for you myself."

Sarah wasn't sure whether she was as pleased as Joslynn sounded, but she smiled anyway. "At least Dr. Meng didn't get to make my wardrobe selection."

Joslynn snorted, "Can you imagine?"

"Let's go see the accommodations then," Sarah decided.

She and Tera followed Joslynn to another wing of the floor, which Sarah hadn't been in yet. It was as gray and nondescript as everything else, and Sarah was sure if it wasn't for the green door she would never find the place again.

"This door is the gym and that one is the pool, please don't drown. And here's your room," she badged the door opened.

The room was the same nondescript metal as everything else, but at least the lights were a warm color instead of the bright almost blue-white of the labs. There were four twin-sized beds, one in each corner, with walk-in closets built on the sides of the room, one for each bed. They all had the same white sheets with blue blankets, which were at least high thread count and comfortable. There was a small round table with chairs, the sort that looked more useful for socializing than eating on.

Sarah opened the closet. 'Not necessarily what I would have chosen,' she thought as she looked through the clothes. 'It does look nice,' she admitted holding up a gray ankle boot. 'Dressing a little nicer might not hurt anything.'

"Thanks, Joslynn," she said when she walked out of the closet. "Thanks for making sure I had something nice to wear," she smiled.

"You're welcome," Joslynn beamed, then sighed, "I should probably get back to work."

Sarah nodded, "Yeah, us too." 'It's not like we're trying to save the world or anything.'

A notification chime interrupted Sarah's concentration. She glanced at her phone. She had a single message from Ashley: "dinner?"

"I'm going to get some dinner with an old friend," Sarah told Tera.

"Oh good, me too. I'm starving," Tera giggled, following Sarah out of the room.

Sarah rolled her eyes, 'Way to invite yourself into the middle of an awkward conversation, Tera.'

"Sarah," Ashley smiled when she saw them, "and who is this lovely lady?"

"Tera, my… friend, Dr. Ashley Lyons, and this Tera Masters, my lab assistant."

"Une si charmante dame," Ashley crooned.

"Je suis flattée," Tera smiled, before nearly skipping away to the counter to find something to eat.

Sarah smiled at Ashley, 'Some things never change. Was that part of why we didn't continue, because she was always looking at other women when we were together? Not that we ever claimed to be monogamous, but I only had one other while she had many.'

"Does it bring back memories?" Ashley asked quietly. "I see the way you look at her, the mixture of desire, and restraint. You are much stronger than I am. And there I go again," she sighed.

Sarah snorted, "I'm also not as pretty as you, and I don't have your silver tongue." 'And unlike you, I prefer something more long term,' she thought bitterly. 'She really is quite beautiful,' Sarah looked at Tera in her apple bottom jeans and knit sweater. Her long, curly, blond hair fell in cascading waves down her back, and across her shoulders framing her face. 'And those big blue doe eyes, and too big bottom lip, with the obvious holes from piercings.'

Tera returned and sat down at the table, "You never told me you're a lesbian, Sarah."

"Bisexual, actually," she corrected.

"That explains the tension in the lab, I'm also bi."

"Well then, we can have a threesome later," Ashley laughed, then quickly added, "Just joking, of course."

Tera looked at Ashley intently. "I've read some of your papers. Interesting stuff, trying to build biological bridges to conventional computers. I was wondering though what you're working on here, given the current situation?"

Sarah narrowed her eyes at Tera, she had planned to butter Ashley up for that question, not just ask it outright.

"You have to understand the nature of OmniCorp—well, all corporations—" Ashley looked around to make sure no one was listening in. "It's all about money. Every crisis is an opportunity. There are people well above the Director's pay grade who think that two zero–whatever, Contagion 63X," she stopped when she saw their faces, "that's what the press is calling it. Who knows why–Anyway, someone high up thinks that Contagion 63X could be useful in my research. Expect more researchers to show up in the coming days who aren't here trying to stop this, but generate a profit from it."

"But that's—!" Tera stopped herself, realizing she was shouting. She laughed, "Oh you really had me there! Sarah tried to warn me about you."

'Clever,' Sarah thought as the few others in the room returned to their conversations.

"Yes, not at all ethical," Ashley agreed.

"You know what else wouldn't be ethical?" Tera grinned.